Our Staff
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Ashley Storrow, Executive Director Contact: [email protected] Ashley’s passion for community building began in Portland Maine where she worked as the Assistant Director for the State of Maine’s Refugee Resettlement Program. She later received her Masters in Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management at the School For International Training where she focused on designing programs in arts education for social change. For the past 5 years, she has worked at Vermont Academy as the vocal instructor and also as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director. She performs as a singer-songwriter in the duo, “The Early Risers.” She lives in Putney with her husband, two young daughters, a slew of chickens, and a wildly large vegetable garden. |
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Nora Kropp, Communications and Office Manager Contact: nora@mainstreetarts.org Nora is a versatile professional with a background in office administration, customer service, and the creative arts. A self-taught jeweler and aspiring homesteader, she is passionate about creating and building connections within her community. Having spent years working in downtown Brattleboro, Nora developed a strong appreciation for community and the importance of meaningful relationships. She is now excited to begin a new chapter with Main Street Arts, where she will contribute her expertise in communications and creativity to the team. Outside of her work and jewelry design, Nora enjoys experimenting in the kitchen, exploring the outdoors, and most importantly, spending quality time with her daughter and family. |
Teaching Staff
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Putnam Smith, Theater Chair Since graduating Bowdoin College with a degree in philosophy, Putnam Smith has worked as an actor, director, playwright, nationally touring musician, farmer, letterpress printer, teacher, and librarian. As the Education Director at the New England Youth Theatre, Putnam wrote and directed numerous plays, and organized the Town Schools Theatre Program, working with numerous elementary schools throughout Windham county. He lives on a working homestead in Putney, Vermont, with his wife and two kids. |
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Trish Roberts, Afterschool Drama Teaching Artist
Trish Roberts has been engaging children and teens in theatrical endeavors for over twenty years. She has directed preschoolers and elementary-aged children both for after-school and homeschool programs, including literature-based drama programs, and has staged several full-length productions at the high-school level. She holds a BA from Middlebury College and a CT teaching certificate in both French and Theatre, has a Master’s Degree in English Literature from Trinity College, and is the founder and director of Wildbrook Forest Theatre, a nature-based theatre project in Westminster, VT. She is thrilled to be offering the imagination-building work of theater through the Main Street Arts After-School Drama program. |
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Amber Paris, Creative Aging Teaching Artist Amber Paris is a Putney-based visual artist and creative community engagement facilitator. She has taught bookmaking across Southern Vermont for the past 12 years. You can learn more about Amber and see her work at amberparis.net. |
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Charles Peoples III, Voice & Theater
Charles is an interdisciplinary artist and sonic changemaker residing at the intersection of performance art and experimental music theater. Focused on the convergence of sound, technology, and spirituality, they create multidisciplinary experiences that traverse realms of mysticism and collective transformation. Charles has performed his music at multiple conferences, workshops, and theaters, such as the SF Fresh Meat Festival, 9th International Sound Healing Conference, the SPAM New Media Festival, the Oakland Chapel of Chimes, re:Sound Festival, San Jose Pride Festival, the Lesher Center for the Arts, Northern Stage, and the Hopkins Center for the Arts. Charles has been awarded grants and residencies from places such as Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Earthdance, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, New Music on the Point, East Bay Queer Healing Arts Center, the Frost Place, and has been published with Ambidextrous Bloodhound Press. www.CharlesPeoplesIII.com |
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Leah Stein, Movement Movement artist and interdisciplinary dance maker Leah Stein has been teaching and collaborating on interdisciplinary site-specific performance projects for over 30 years. She has taught, danced and created performances throughout the US, Europe, in Japan and Indonesia. Grounded in the intelligence of the body, she is a seasoned improviser with a strong foundation in Contact Improvisation and creative practice. https://www.leahsteindanceco.org/ |
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Rachael Shaw, NIA Dance Rachael has been teaching dance in Southern Vermont since 2010. Formerly a Zumba Fitness and Cardio Line Dance Instructor, she has fallen in love with Nia, and is excited to share it with the community. |
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Annie Quest, Evie Lovett, Creative Aging Teaching Artist Annie Quest has been a jewelry maker, painter, theater director, stage and lighting designer, and musician for many decades. Having performed and shown her work throughout New England, she is now concentrating her energies on jewelry making and painting. She has recently shown her paintings in two venues and is developing an exhibition CV. She just retired from teaching art, art history, and social emotional learning at the Greenwood School in Putney VT. She is currently a social coach for young adults. View some of her current work here: https://www.marlborocommunity.center/art-exhibits |
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Susan Rosano, Creative Aging Teaching Artist
Susan E. Rosano, MA, is a Mosaic and Mural Artist with a Master’s Degree in Fine Art from Wesleyan University. Susan’s mosaic work has been shown at craft fairs, galleries and she has given mosaic classes in different venues across New England for the past 20 years. Susan is also a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator, with a Registration from the International Expressive Art Therapy Association. For the past twenty years she has taught many different types of creative arts projects with communities throughout New England as a Master Teaching Artist on the juried rosters of the Vermont Arts Council, Vermont Arts Council’s Creative Aging Teaching Artist, State of New Hampshire Arts in Healthcare, Arts for Learning Connecticut, and the State of Connecticut Commission on the Arts. Visit: https://www.creativeground.org/profile/vermont-mosaics |
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John Bohannon, Tai Chi John Bohannon has been practicing tai chi and qigong for about 30 years. He has practiced two versions of the Yang tai chi form and some of the more than 7000 qigong forms. He has led groups in Saxtons River and Bellows Falls for the last 10 years. In his practice he emphasizes the health and meditative aspects of the forms, as opposed to the martial aspect. He also finds great value in the social bonds that seem to arise from practicing these arts in a group. |
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Jill Newton, String Band Teaching Artist
Jill Newton has been fiddling for square and contra dances and festive occasions since the early 70’s, and has led the Main Street Arts String Band since its inception in the mid 90’s. She has a vast repertoire of traditional tunes, mainly with French Canadian, Celtic and Scandinavian roots. She is the president of the Northeast Fiddlers Assoc, and has played in the Windham Philharmonic (formerly the Windham Orchestra) for more than 50 years. She is a retired math teacher and a beekeeper. |
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Matt Peake, Dance Teaching Artist Matthew Peake was a practicing family physician in Rockingham for 27 years before changing careers in 2006 to become a visual artist. He has been dancing a variety of dances over the last two decades, and his interest in bringing dance into our community prompted him and his dancing friends to offer dance instruction at Main Street Arts beginning in 2022 as "Matt Peake and Friends." |
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Julianne Giordano, Summer Camp Teacher
Julianne holds a B.A. in Anthropology and an M.Ed. from Antioch University. Her professional experience ranges from working as a special educator in public elementary and middle schools to teaching in private nature-based early childhood settings. She is currently part of the preschool team at Guilford Central School. Passionate about hands-on, play-based learning, Julianne thrives on transforming spaces into dynamic maker environments that inspire young children to explore, create, and deepen their understanding of themselves and the world around them. She lives in Dummerston with her husband and two kids and loves to explore alongside them! |
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Linda Sheehan, Visual Arts Teacher
Linda Longtoe Sheehan, affectionately known as “Wampum Woman,” has been creating wampum belts and jewelry for over thirty years. Working with glass beads, mother of pearl, and quahog shell, she shapes each bead by hand and weaves her belts using braintanned leather. A dedicated teacher and tradition bearer, Linda has passed her knowledge on to countless students and has presented her work at museums and historic sites throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Her craftsmanship has even been recognized by the Presidential Protocol Office. |
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Tara Murphy, African Dance & African Drumming Teacher
Originally from Washington, D.C., Tara grew up studying ballet, theater, played saxophone and oboe, and sang in her school choir. She earned her B.A. in theater and religious studies at Yale University, where she began studying African dance and drumming from Ghana, West Africa. At this time Tara began exploring her heritage through African studies at Yale, and was awarded a fellowship to study traditional dance and drumming at the University of Legon in Ghana. For the past 25 years, she has studied dance and drumming with many African artists. Her primary mentors have been Issa Coulibaly of Mali and Mohamed Kamara of Guinea. She now also studies with Aimee Gelinas in western MA. In addition to African dance and drumming, Tara has also practiced yoga and meditation since she was a child. Tara recognizes the practice of African dance and drumming as a tremendous force for healing, meditation, empowerment and community. It is her greatest honor to share the inspiration of these ancient traditions. |